SB 10.08.04 mahad-vicalanam nrnam... cited

Expressions researched:
"for the sake of poor-hearted grhasthas" |"grhinam dina-cetasam" |"kalpate nanyatha kvacit" |"mahad-vicalanam nrnam" |"nihsreyasaya bhagavan"

Notes from the compiler: Vedabase query: "10.8.4" or "for the sake of poor-hearted grhasthas" or "grhinam dina-cetasam" or "kalpate nanyatha kvacit" or "mahad-vicalanam nrnam" or "nihsreyasaya bhagavan"

SB Canto 10.1 to 10.13

SB 10.8.4, Translation and Purport:

O my lord, O great devotee, persons like you move from one place to another not for their own interests but for the sake of poor-hearted gṛhasthas (householders). Otherwise they have no interest in going from one place to another.

As factually stated by Nanda Mahārāja, Gargamuni, being a devotee, had no needs. Similarly, when Kṛṣṇa comes He has no needs, for He is pūrṇa, ātmārāma. Nonetheless, He descends to this material world to protect the devotees and vanquish miscreants (paritrāṇāya sādhūnāṁ vināśāya ca duṣkṛtām (BG 4.8)). This is the mission of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, and devotees also have the same mission. One who executes this mission of para-upakāra, performing welfare activities for people in general, is recognized by Kṛṣṇa, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, as being very, very dear to Him (na ca tasmān manuṣyeṣu kaścin me priya-kṛttamaḥ (BG 18.69)). Similarly, Caitanya Mahāprabhu has advised this para-upakāra, and He has especially advised the inhabitants of India:

bhārata-bhūmite haila manuṣya-janma yāra

janma sārthaka kari' kara para-upakāra

"One who has taken his birth as a human being in the land of India (Bhārata-varṣa) should make his life successful and work for the benefit of all other people." (CC Adi 9.41) On the whole, the duty of a pure Vaiṣṇava devotee is to act for the welfare of others.

Nanda Mahārāja could understand that Gargamuni had come for this purpose and that his own duty now was to act according to Gargamuni's advice. Thus he said, "Please tell me what is my duty." This should be the attitude of everyone, especially the householder. The varṇāśrama society is organized into eight divisions: brāhmaṇa, kṣatriya, vaiśya, śūdra, brahmacarya, gṛhastha, vānaprastha and sannyāsa. Nanda Mahārāja represented himself as gṛhiṇām, a householder. A brahmacārī factually has no needs, but gṛhī, householders, are engaged in sense gratification. As stated in Bhagavad-gītā (2.44), bhogaiśvarya-prasaktānāṁ tayāpahṛta-cetasām. Everyone has come to this material world for sense gratification, and the position of those who are too attached to sense gratification and who therefore accept the gṛhastha-āśrama is very precarious. Since everyone in this material world is searching for sense gratification, gṛhasthas are required to be trained as mahat, great mahātmās. Therefore Nanda Mahārāja specifically used the word mahad-vicalanam. Gargamuni had no interest to serve by going to Nanda Mahārāja, but Nanda Mahārāja, as a gṛhastha, was always perfectly ready to receive instructions from a mahātmā to gain the real benefit in life. Thus he was ready to execute Gargamuni's order.

SB 10.10.17, Purport:

It is said, mahad-vicalanaṁ nṟṇāṁ gṛhiṇāṁ dīna-cetasām (SB 10.8.4). The only business of a saintly person or sannyāsī, a person in the renounced order, is to preach Kṛṣṇa consciousness.

CC Madhya-lila

CC Madhya 8.40, Translation and Purport:

“"My dear Lord, sometimes great saintly persons go to the homes of householders, although these householders are generally low-minded. When a saintly person visits their homes, one can understand that it is for no other purpose than to benefit the householders."

This verse is from Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam (10.8.4).

Teachings of Lord Caitanya

Teachings of Lord Caitanya, Chapter 27:

Lord Caitanya, however, knew Rāmānanda Rāya to be a great devotee, and so He did not hesitate to touch and embrace him. Rāmānanda Rāya was surprised by Lord Caitanya's behavior, and he cited a verse from Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam (10.8.4): "Great personalities and sages appear in the homes of worldly men just to show them mercy."

Srimad-Bhagavatam Lectures

Lecture on SB 1.5.28 -- Vrndavana, August 9, 1974:

So the saintly persons, in the, during the autumn and rainy season, they keep together; they do not move. Because saintly persons, sannyāsīs, their business is to move... Gṛhiṇāṁ dīna-cetasām, mahad-vicalanam. Mahad-vicalanam. Mahat means mahātmā, great souls. Great soul means not crippled souls, those who are anxious to meet the great, or the Supreme Brahman, or the Supreme Personality of Godhead.

Lecture on SB 1.5.30 -- Vrndavana, August 11, 1974:

Those who are in the material world, they are very, very poor. Very, very poor. Gṛhiṇāṁ dīna-cetasām. Because their mind is very crippled. They are thinking that this duration of life—say, fifty years or twenty years or utmost seventy, or hundred years—this is everything. That's all. Therefore they are very poor.

Lecture on SB 1.13.10 -- Geneva, June 1, 1974:

Then it is very nice. Bhāgavatās tīrtha-bhūtaḥ. They are already purified, holy place of pilgrimage. Mahad-vicalanaṁ nṟṇāṁ gṛhiṇāṁ dīna-cetasām. Therefore, the bhāgavatas, they travel all over the world to purify the ordinary human being because they are dīna-cetasa. Dīna-cetasa. Dīna means poor.

Lecture on SB 5.5.34 -- Vrndavana, November 21, 1976:

To give them some benefit, that is Vaiṣṇava life. Stop material activities, and for the benefit of the mass of people, dīna. They are very dīna, very poor. Mahad-vicalanaṁ gṛhiṇāṁ dīna-cetasām. Dīna-cetasām. They're very, very crippled, dīnasām. Gṛhiṇām. Those who are gṛhi, they are very dīna, very poor-hearted, because they do not know anything except to maintain the family.

Lecture on SB 6.2.16 -- Vrndavana, September 19, 1975:

So mahad-vicalanaṁ nṛṇāṁ gṛhiṇāṁ dīna-cetasāṁ. Gṛhiṇāṁ. Gṛhi means anyone who is living within this body or anyone who is living within this material world. It is a compact thing.

Lecture on SB 6.2.16 -- Vrndavana, September 19, 1975:

Their business is to preach that "Don't keep yourself within this material world. Come to the spiritual world." This is the business of mahātmā. Mahad-vicalanaṁ nṛṇāṁ gṛhiṇāṁ dīna-cetasām. They are very poor knowledge, mūḍha. They have been described as mūḍha, duṣkṛtina. All these men are engaged in sinful activities on account of their ignorance. If you say, "No, how you can say they are in ignorance? There are so many universities.

Lecture on SB 7.6.1 -- San Francisco, March 6, 1967:

They are very compassionate. Kṛṣṇa is very strict. If anyone wants to forget Him, He will give him so many chances that he will never be able to understand what is Kṛṣṇa. But Kṛṣṇa's devotee are more compassionate than Kṛṣṇa. Therefore they preach Kṛṣṇa consciousness or God consciousness to the poor people. Gṛhiṇāṁ dīna-cetasām. Mahad-vicalanaṁ nṛṇāṁ gṛhiṇāṁ dīna-cetasām. When Nārada approached Mahārāja Yudhiṣṭhira, he welcomed him that "My dear sir, you are free. You can travel anywhere you like. You are so great and so free. Then why do you come to me? You have no business to come here. I am ordinary king, and what business you have got with me? But still, you come to my house. You talk with me. Why?" Gṛhiṇāṁ

Lecture on SB 7.12.5 -- Bombay, April 16, 1976:

This collection is not for his personal sense gratification. This collection is made from these persons to offer to the Deity. Offer. They are simply eating. Gṛhiṇāṁ dīna-cetasām, mahad-vicalanaṁ nṛṇāṁ gṛhiṇāṁ dīna-cetasām. The householders especially, they have become very cripple-minded. In the śāstra it is said that sannyāsīs, brahmacārīs, they are supposed to be maintained by the gṛhastha as their children. As they are maintaining their own children—there is no disgust—similarly, if a brahmacārī or a gṛhastha comes..., brahmacārī or sannyāsī, so he should not be refused. Give something.

Initiation Lectures

Sannyasa Initiation -- Bombay, November 18, 1975:

Benefit of Kṛṣṇa means benefit of the whole world. Kṛṣṇa wants sarva-dharmān parityajya mām ekaṁ śaraṇaṁ vraja (BG 18.66). A sannyāsī should go door to door. Mahad-vicalanaṁ nṛṇāṁ grhiṇāṁ dīna-cetasām. A sannyāsī is called mahātmā. Why he is mahātmā? Because his ātmā is now broader. Gṛhiṇāṁ dīna-cetasām. Mahad-vicalanam. Mahātmā travels or wanders country to country, door to door—mahad-vicalanaṁ nṛṇāṁ gṛhiṇām—especially for the householders, dīna-cetasām, whose consciousness or mind is very crippled. They are dīna-cetasām.

General Lectures

Lecture on Teachings of Lord Caitanya -- Bombay, March 17, 1971:

Our only business is how to become Kṛṣṇa conscious, how to become Kṛṣṇa conscious. That can be done simply by the mercy of sādhu. Therefore sādhus' business is, "Go from door to door and enlighten them." Mahad-vicalanaṁ nṟṇāṁ gṛhiṇāṁ dīna-cetasām. The sādhu's business is that he goes from door to door and tries to invoke Kṛṣṇa consciousness, dormant Kṛṣṇa consciousness. In everyone's heart there is Kṛṣṇa consciousness. It is in a sleeping state. Just like these European and American boys, unless there was Kṛṣṇa consciousness dormant, how it could be invoked? It is not sentiment.

1972 Conversations and Morning Walks

Talk with Bob Cohen -- February 27-29, 1972, Mayapura:

Prabhupāda: Yes. You save him from going to hell. Because a farthing spent for Kṛṣṇa it will be accounted, "Oh, this man has given a farthing." This is called ajñāta-sukṛti. Ajñāta-sukṛti means doing pious activities without knowledge. So we give everyone chance to act very piously without his knowledge. This is Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement. Mahad-vicalanaṁ nṟṇāṁ gṛhīṇāṁ dīna-cetasām. Dīna-cetasām. They're very poor in their thought. Therefore the saintly persons work(?) just to enlighten him little, to give him chance to serve Kṛṣṇa. That is saintly person's study.

1974 Conversations and Morning Walks

Morning Walk -- April 13, 1974, Bombay:

Prabhupāda: (break) ...presence of a brāhmaṇa, of a sannyāsī, in the household, in the house of a householder, means to enlighten. Mahad-vicalanaṁ nṛnām gṛhinām gṛhacet dīna-cetasām. The gṛhasthas, they are very cripple-minded. They are satisfied with the family, and they do not know that anything else to do. Therefore it is the duty of the sannyāsī and the brāhmaṇas to go to the householder's home and enlighten them spiritually. Therefore purohita. Go on. (break) ...pura. Purasara means "in the front", and hita means welfare. So one who conducts welfare of the householder. Guru-purohita. Every family must have guru and purohita for spiritual advancement. Hare Kṛṣṇa. Jaya.

Morning Walk at Marina del Rey -- July 14, 1974, Los Angeles:

Prabhupāda: To become sannyāsī means that, that he'll be pure devotee, and wherever he will go, he will purify. That is sannyāsa means. Mahad-vicalaṁ nṛnāṁ gṛhināṁ dīna-cetasām. Mahātmās, they'll travel so that the householders, who are cripple-minded and full of sinful activities, they'll go there and make them purified. This is the idea of sannyāsa.

1977 Conversations and Morning Walks

Room Conversation -- January 8, 1977, Bombay:

Prabhupāda: That is our mission. Not for this belly. For belly we refuse to go anywhere. You'll find in Kumbhamela, still there are sādhus, they are not going anywhere. And they are starving? We go-gṛhināṁ dina-cetasām—"This rascal is absorbed in the thought of comfortable life, and he has taken only these wife and children, everything. Give him some other..." This is our mission. Yāre dekha tāre kaha 'kṛṣṇa.' Let him go there and sit down and talk with him and give some instruction of Kṛṣṇa.